Revaluation, new homes boost Killingly grand list

Sunday

KILLINGLY — Killingly’s grand list grew by 16 percent last year, largely due to a property revaluation and a significant jump in residential property construction, officials said on Friday.

The town’s grand list, the sum of all taxable property in town, grew to $1.348 billion from $1.161 billion in 2017 in the wake of a recent revaluation in which residential property values jumped by 20 percent, Acting Town Manager Paul Hopkins said.

“Aside from the revaluation, we had a lot of new residential construction, including the mills apartment on Maple Street, that are now on the tax rolls,” he said. “We’ve also seen a significant amount of new building with the Brookside housing complex on Route 101 and expansion at the age-restricted Briarwood Falls housing area.”

The town’s grand list took a major hit last year after the state discontinued its Distressed Municipalities Property Tax Reimbursement Program, which paid back eligible towns a portion of the lost property tax sustained as a result of exemptions granted to qualified manufacturing businesses. That discontinuation cost the town $2 million.

“We didn’t even budget for it this year,” Hopkins said.

The motor vehicle portion of the 2018 grand list swelled by 3.4 percent from $11.5 million to $11.9 million.

“It’s people buying more vehicles and more expensive models, similar to the trend we’re seeing on the real estate side,” Hopkins said. “Prices for those kinds of items are trending up.”

The town had 300 new properties added in 2018 and 200 new vehicles registered.

Personal property taxes decreased to $610 million from $640 million after a lull in business equipment and other purchases.

The overall figures puts Killingly in a good position as officials prepare for the upcoming budget season.

“Two factors that determine a mill rate is the grand list and the budget,” Hopkins said. “If the grand list is up 16 percent and there’s no change to the previous year’s budget, the mill rate decreases by 16 percent. But that’s only with the caveat that budgets don’t increase.”

The 2019-20 budget is expected to continue reducing the town’s reliance on resident state troopers in favor of local constables. The four-person trooper cadre will likely be reduced to three while funding is made available to add two new constables to the current pair on the town’s payroll.

Town Council Chairman Jonathan Cesolini said despite the grand list uptick, he still plans to continue taking a conservative approach to next year's budget.

"You know with the revaluation, the mill rate will drop as property values increase, so it's a benefit and a burden that makes it imporatant to keep a close eye on the bottom-line budget numbers," he said. "I don't want to take advantage of that increase."

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